TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

A heavily tattooed Death Row inmate, described by a prosecutor as "a silver-tongued devil" who could manipulate people, was allegedly having sex with a veteran, female detention officer in the jail, the Kern County Sheriff's Department said Monday.

The revelation came in a news release that said 48-year-old Margarita Young, a detentions deputy for 11 years, was arrested Monday on a felony warrant charging her with having consensual sexual activity with 41-year-old Timothy Titus Rodriguez in the Lerdo Pre-Trial Facility.

Young, who has been on administrative leave since an investigation began in November, was in jail Monday evening in lieu of $10,000 bail. An arraignment has been tentatively set for Wednesday.

Sheriff Donny Youngblood said he was "disgusted" and "offended" by the allegations. "It's hard for me to believe," the sheriff said.

But sometimes real people do things that are hard to comprehend and "all we can do is react quickly" to address the issues "the best we can," he said.

Sheriff's spokesman Michael Whorf said he could not comment on how or where any acts took place except that it was in the jail facility.

Rodriguez was on trial in October and November on murder and robbery charges in the May 2007 baseball-bat beating death of 90-year-old Thelma Long, who hired Rodriguez and his girlfriend to perform chores around her east Bakersfield house.

Long's daughter, Cathryn Reeves, who was also severely injured in the baseball bat attack, had questioned her mother about whether Rodriguez could be trusted around the house, prosecutor Art Norris said.

Long told her that she believed Rodriguez had turned his life around. Reeves has since died from unrelated health issues.

Norris said Rodriguez was "a silver-tongued devil" who won over Long. "Thelma Long paid with her life for being a trusting person," Norris said.

A jury convicted Rodriguez on Nov. 5 after several weeks of trial, and then recommended on Dec. 7 that Rodriguez be put to death. Superior court Judge Kenneth Twisselman confirmed on Jan. 6 that Rodriguez should be the 28th person to be sentenced to death in Kern since 1978.

Rodriguez is now in state prison, deputies said. He wore long-sleeved shirts during the trial that covered up his heavily tattooed arms, but jurors could still see tattoos on his neck and face.

A charge of sexual activity with an inmate by a detention officer is punishable by up to three years in prison.